“They’re kind of stuck to 30 seconds of being amazing for social media”: Joe Satriani explains the difference between online virtuosos and Jimi Hendrix – and says society isn’t giving players the chance to fully express themselves

Joe Satriani was recently asked about his the records that changed his life and the way he looked at the electric guitar, and it was no surprise that he cited Jimi Hendrix.

But what he had to say about Hendrix was perhaps a lesson for us all, because Satch cautioned that today’s players were being failed by a society that isn’t giving them “the space to express themselves”.

Speaking to Guitar Player, Satriani spoke of his awe upon hearing Hendrix for the first time. “It altered the DNA in my body,” he said. “Even before I could express it properly, I just always felt like there was something unique about Jimi Hendrix that I didn’t really hear from anybody else.”

Satriani made the comparison with today’s cohort of up-and-coming virtuosos, and argued that social media and prevailing pop-culture at large was not creating an environment conducive to developing the next Hendrix.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (Official Audio) - YouTube

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What made Hendrix great, argues Satriani, was that you could not hear the practice hours in his playing. There was no sense that you were listening to a player who had spent days on an alternate picking drill.

“He never played anything that sounded like an exercise,” said Satriani. “He never seemed to be demonstrating anything, unlike today. There are so many fantastic guitar players all over the world who are demonstrating – but it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of society that doesn’t really give them space to express themselves.”

Some would argue it was ever thus. After all who, since Hendrix, has electrified the instrument to the same degree? Jimmy Page? Eddie Van Halen? Such talents will always be rare. Satriani, however, seems to be getting at a deeper issue. Social media incentivises technical excellence; it also incentivises creative behaviours that are a million miles away from what Hendrix was doing with his instrument.

Joe Satriani - Ice 9 (from Satriani LIVE!) - YouTube

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Social media requires attention to be captured at scale. This insatiable demand for more content places more pressure on players who want to maintain their online presence; they have to keep producing those 30-second clips Satriani is talking about, and all the effort expended to create this makes for less time to develop a deeper musical purpose.

Satriani said Electric Ladyland didn’t just bare Hendrix’s soul, it required his soul to sound as it did.

“He just sounded like music, like everything was just expression,” said Satriani. “I thought, Wow… that’s it. It’s all about expression.”

Spanish Castle Magic (G3 Reunion Live) - YouTube

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Speaking to MusicRadar in 2015, Satriani admitted Hendrix’s compositions and performances hit him so hard that he struggled to get through them in one sitting.

“I remember almost struggling to get through Third Stone From The Sun because it was so cathartic,” he said. “He used his guitar to represent the sounds of not only the world around him, but some sort of inner yearning, confusion and a whole range of emotions.

“Some days I had to take it first half and then the second half later in the day! He was the first guitarist to totally blow my mind and he continues to do so.”

In other Satriani news, the G3: 25th Anniversary Reunion Tour album is out today via earMUSIC, and captures sets from Satch, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson, and all three jamming together in the encore, during which, yes, they play some Hendrix, reinterpreting Spanish Castle Magic for three guitars.